In the mixing of photographic emulsions, it is important that air not be entrained into the emulsion. It is also important that the photographic emulsion be mixed thoroughly. This requires high speed mixing; however high speed mixing tends to generate air entrainment. Thus there is a need for a mixer which can be operated at high speed yet does not entrain air during mixing.
Moreover, in the batch manufacturing of photographic emulsions it is important to be able to change from one product to another quickly. Thus the use of fixed baffles within a kettle used for mixing photographic emulsions is not desired. Such a kettle having baffles is hard to clean, and can cause subsequent contamination of future batches of photographic emulsions.
The present invention solves the above-identified problems by providing a mixer that can be operated at high speed, and can be used in a baffleless kettle, while eliminating vortexing and swirling in the liquid being mixed.